


Debts

by nobleshroud



Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 09:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20758286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobleshroud/pseuds/nobleshroud
Summary: Ryley Robinson has several people to repay...





	Debts

The voices had become so ubiquitous that Ryley couldn’t remember when they first started. It was more of a feeling than a memory: Coral, the one with rose-tinged scales and a voice like her mother’s, had come to him while he sat in a holding cell and told him not to be sad. While he gave his story to dispassionate officers, Star, the gold one, and Sky, the blueish one, tried to help ease his frustrations. And when the doctors came to examine him, poking and prodding and making his life miserable, pale Shell and rusty Moon told him not to be afraid. They could somehow sense his pain across the lightyears, and began to come to him in force the longer the doctors kept him.

_You are no longer alone,_ they said. _You are a part of the Pod now._

_How is it you can project when I am no longer there?_ Ryley asked.

_You have our gift. It has changed you._

_Yes, it has changed you._

Talking with them was his only respite as the experiments continued. The doctors came and went in their hazmat suits, no matter how much he protested that he was no longer contagious. They drew blood and filled him with tubes, and later wired his head to a computer. The Pod asked him about his world and why his people were acting so strange; he asked to know more about Sea Emperors instead, to keep his mind off the present. They told him they didn’t know, because no adults were around to teach them, but hoped to find more of their kind if they swam further.

_I hope you can. I hope you and your mother are not the last_, Ryley told them.

_What is a ‘mother’?_ Sky asked.

He’d forgotten it was a planet of hermaphrodites. _That’s what we usually call the one who lays the eggs._

_Ah yes!_ He could sense their pleasure. _That is a good word. ‘Mother.’ We will use it._

Ryley smiled a little. It was good not to be alone anymore.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed in such a way. Without the sun he could not tell time anymore, but he was certain a few weeks had gone by. And then, one day, the doctors simply unplugged him and handed him a new worksuit. He was herded down hallways and up elevators until he arrived in a cubby of an office, where a slick-haired executive waited behind a desk. The man smiled and gestured for Ryley to have a seat.

“Mr. Robinson!” the executive sang. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been apprised of your story and I must say, it’s incredible what you have lived through. Alterra is thrilled to have you back safe and sound.”

Ryley took his seat and tried to remember what human pleasantries were. He managed a smile. “Thank you, Mister…?”

“Dyson. It says here you were an Alterra Alms recipient? Solid work in your classes, excelled with gadgetry, were placed in…ah. Non-essential systems maintenance. Very under-appreciated, those guys.”

Ryley nodded.

“Now then, I see no reason to dance around things; you’re no doubt wondering what your status is with us right now, given present…complications.”

“Yes, sir,” Ryley said.

_Why do they all wear the dangly bits around their necks?_ Star asked, apparently displeased by Dyson’s tie.

“Well now. First, some good news: the doctors have given you a clean bill of health, and you’re finally cleared to get back to work. For now we’ll be keeping you on board the station, until and unless you accept a new assignment. There’s no shortage of things to be fixed around here.”  
Ryley attempted another smile.

“Second, and most importantly, Alterra has taken your unique circumstances into consideration, and has decided to forgive your debt in its entirety.”

Ryley nearly fell out of his chair. “All of it? All one-trillion?”

“All one-trillion,” Dyson echoed. “Although there will be some stipulations, of course.”

“Of course,” Ryley blurted. “I assume they’ll take it out of my wages, then?”

Dyson shook his head. “Not at all. Rather, Alterra is interested in the additional resources you can provide. Those two power cells you placed in the Neptune, for example…engineering has never seen anything like them. With a power source like that, humanity as a whole could take a tremendous leap forward.”

_They want the alien tech… _Ryley wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

_It is bad,_ the Pod told him. He couldn’t argue that; Alterra had originally made its fortune selling weapons, and they were no doubt eyeballing the quarantine canon more than they were eyeing the ion cubes.

“Furthermore,” Dyson continued, “We are deeply concerned about this ‘Kharaa’ bacterium and its potential presence on other worlds. Your blood plasma was not enough to synthesize a vaccine; we would like your help in procuring some of this ‘Enzyme 42’ instead.”

Ryley shook his head. “It’d be dispersed throughout the ocean by now, sir. A source as concentrated as the one I ingested has to come straight from the--”

And then he snapped his mouth shut in horror.

Dyson smiled. “Well yes, Mr. Robinson, that is the stipulation. Alterra is hoping that you will be our guide on Planet 4546B as we return to recover the Aurora and the Sunbeam. If you are willing to lead us to the alien facilities that you discovered, and to these leviathans you found, we would be more than happy to forgive your debt in full.”

Ryley leaned forward, gripping the edge of the desktop. “You’re going there to study them. Right? Not to capture. Not to kill. They’re not just animals, sir, they’re people.”

“People?”

“Yes! The Sea Emperors can speak! They have a language, a culture, a philosophy…the planet belongs to them. If you claim 4546B it’d be in direct violation of the Charter.”

Dyson leaned back. “According to your logs, there are five individuals from a near-extinct species resembling sea turtles. While we do have their vocalizations on your PDA, nothing about it resembles speech, and you encountered them while running a high fever from an unknown infection. All cultural artefacts on this planet are of alien origin, while the local life forms show no signs of any creation, artistic or otherwise. Now tell me, Mr. Robinson, which part of that proves their sentience.”

Ryley could no longer feel his toes. Dyson was right – to anyone without context, Ryley’s evidence proved nothing.

Dyson continued, “I trust you know what the penalty for high-credit debtors is, yes?”

_Be calm,_ Coral said. _Be as the waves._

“Yes sir, I know,” Ryley said. “May I please have some time to consider your offer? I spent so long on 4546B that I don’t exactly relish the thought of going back.” It was a decent excuse, anyway.

“Of course,” Mr. Dyson said. “But at most I can only give you forty-eight standard hours. Alterra is anxious to begin its expedition, and will leave without you if it must.”

“You’ll have my response before then.” And with that, Ryley left.


End file.
